Chapter Three: The Path of the Righteous Pony
Chapter Three: The Path of the Righteous Pony
Location: S.C.A.L.E Training Facility.
As the mass of ponies assembled into the mess room, they began sitting at the tables already set up in the room. Stormcloud naturally took his seat like all the others, he stared around the room, there were a few noticeboards in one corner, the corridor they’d all just come in from, three other corridors and the area that was clearly where the caterers worked.
A few minutes passed and Stormclouds stomach began to grumble in anticipation of food, Stormcloud was unsure of how much physical time had passed while being unconscious. Then he heard the clopping of hooves, everypony who had been talking was now silent. An earth pony walked down into the middle of the mess room. The stallion was wearing a large black trench coat that covered nearly all of his brown fur, his cutie mark wasn’t visible, but his most noticeable feature was the fact he wore an eyepatch over his right eye.
The pony stood on a free table to address the entire room. He had no mane but kept a small black beard. Twilight Sparkle entered the room alongside a few other ponies that Stormcloud did not recognise, they didn’t follow the pony in the centre but remained at the sidelines.
“Alright listen up.” The brown-furred pony said loudly.“My name is Director Righteous Fury, you however will be addressing me as Director Fury. Welcome to the Strategic Centre for Aid and Law Enforcement, you are here because you have been chosen to be agents because you are the best of the best. Don’t let that go to your heads though as some of you however will not make it through the tedious twelve week programme.”
While Director Fury spoke he rotated on the table to address the entire room, or maybe it was because he only had one eye and couldn't see everypony.
“While you are here, you will eat, sleep, learn and train within this facility. You will not be leaving this building unless you aren’t good enough for S.C.A.L.E or if you’ve passed the training course. The course has been designed to test your general knowledge and increase your specialist areas including engineering, science, data analysis, field work or if you’re really lucky; the specialists . Each of you will have several training sessions during the day and some free time in the evening. You will all be divided up into races for physical training and by your field for your academic training and for some of you that will be more physical training.” Director Fury explained.
At that moment Rapid Fire, Captain Falcon and some other ponies entered the room, they stood not too far from Twilight Sparkle.
“You've each had your bags placed in an individual room which is for your use only. If you are caught after hours with another in your room you will be leaving S.C.A.L.E, if you do anything to compromise S.C.A.L.E you will be interrogated. Understand this ponies, you are here to be whittled down so that we only have the best left. Tomorrow you begin your training with these ponies here.” He gestured to Rapid Fire and Captain Falcon. “If you are lucky then we will see each other again.”
With that Director Fury stepped off the table and headed towards the corridor that led towards the carriages. Twilight Sparkle and a few others followed him out of the room. Rapid Fire held up a checklist and stepped to where Director Fury had been.
“Okay listen up, I’m going to start reading names and you are going to head to your personal room!” Rapid Fire said loudly drawing their attention.
It was about fifteen minutes until Rapid Fire called out Stormclouds’ name.
“Cirrus Stormcloud!” Rapid Fire shouted awaking Stormcloud from his daydream.
Stormcloud got up and walked towards Rapid Fire, there were only a few ponies left in the mess room, the pegasus which he’d walked in with had left some time ago.
“Room number three-seven-two, head through the double doors…” He pointed a hoof behind him. “Head through the recreational area and you’re on the second level.” Rapid Fire handed him a lanyard.
Stormcloud draped the lanyard over his neck using his magic and proceeded through the double doors. Beyond the doors was a short corridor that led into a large open space, this space was the recreational area which was just a few seats, a few ponies were wondering around aimlessly. Ahead of him and separated from the large room was a corridor running perpendicular to him. The corridor was extremely tall with doors at regular intervals along its length.
Stormcloud stepped aside as a pegasus walked beside him, the mare took flight and rose up two levels where she then landed on the wooden walkways that lined the upper level. There were four levels in total and three of them had wooden walkways, the ground floor was the only exception. A unicorn passed Stormcloud in the opposite direction and turned to him.
“Staircase is back there.” The unicorn said pointing down the corridor.
“Thanks.” Stormcloud replied and the friendly unicorn walked towards the recreational area.
Thankfully the numbering system was easy to understand so Stormcloud walked up the second level. Room three-seven-two was easy to find and Stormcloud pressed his lanyard against the scanner by the door. The metal door slid open to reveal a small room, somepony had delivered his bag to his room just as Rapid Fire had said.
The room was bare except for a simple cot-style bed, a bedside table, a chest of drawers and a tall wardrobe. His bag had been placed on the bed and there was a strange device sitting on the bedside table. There was an envelope beside the device which Stormcloud took the letter out to read.
______________________________________
Dear Agent
Congratulations on your successful entry to the Strategic Centre for Aid and Law Enforcement. You will find next to this envelope a device called a Trojan. This device will upload your unique magical aura to S.C.A.L.Es’ system, this means you will not be required to wear your lanyard to gain access to rooms. This also means you will be the only pony to access your personal quarters and access other areas such as the purpose built unicorn training room.
Please note that once you upload your unique magical aura you will only be able to access areas of your clearance level.
Once again congratulations on your success.
Director Twilight Sparkle.
______________________________________
Stormcloud looked at the device it was medium sized and cylindrical with a flat square area for the lanyard. At the top was a deep hole where Stormcloud was supposed to place his horn. Stormcloud took a deep breathe and place the lanyard onto the square face, it clicked in place. Stormcloud then lowered his horn into the device and slid the device along its length.
The experience wasn’t painful but it felt like somepony was forcing information into his head, it only lasted thirty seconds and there was a *Ding!* to say it was done. Stormcloud took the device from his horn and stared at the metal door, he was slightly tired and also slightly hungry. Thankfully there was clock on the bedside table that showed the time to be ‘21:34’. Stormcloud focused his magic to the scanner by the door, the door slid upwards and Stormcloud left the room with a satisfied grin on his face.
In the time that had passed using the Trojan somepony had set up a large buffet table in the recreational area. As Stormcloud walked down the stairs a din of chatter reverberated all around him. The mass of ponies from the mess hall were now gathered into the comparisonly small recreational area, some ponies who wished to escape to the blackhole of social convention had spilled into the narrow corridor to chat among themselves.
Stormcloud eventually made it through the swarm of ponies to the buffet table in the room and was surprised to see how much food was still left. The table was filled with a variety of cakes, salads, biscuits, hayburgers and chips, punch, water and a selection of pretzels and crisps. A few paper plates and cups were stacked at the end of the table and Stormcloud levitated a pair over to him, he began using his advanced telekinesis training to lift several items of food onto his already levitating plate.
All the ponies around him were already talking amongst themselves but Stormcloud had never been one for large social gatherings. At that moment he felt a party hat being placed onto his head, as he turned to see who was there he only saw a pink cloud scatter in the space beside him. Stormcloud smiled, he only knew of one pony who was capable of arranging a party of this fashion and magnitude in a short time; Pinkie Pie. He caught sight of the party pony placing more hats on other ponies, some saw this as humorous while others (blatantly more serious ponies) discarded the hats like cheap tat. There were a few stone columns in the room, one of which had a note attached to it:
Attention Agents in-training!
The recreational area is for your benefit during down-time. Each pony will have their behaviour monitored and compared with their report. If reports and behaviour are good then the recreational facilities will be furnished.
If ponies decide to break S.C.A.L.Es’ rules, these furnishings will be removed with immediate effect.
At that moment Rapid Fire came up to Stormcloud, he had clearly been talking to all the other ponies in the room as he had adorned some crumbs on his chest.
“So did you find your room okay?” He asked.
“Yes.” Stormcloud replied after swallowing his crisps and turning away from the letter.
“Good, good.” Rapid Fire seemed to search for something else to say.
At that moment Pinkie Pie joined the group and placed a hat on Rapid Fire.
“Thank you Miss Pie.” Rapid Fire replied although the tone of his was not one of joy.
“Please everypony can call me Pinkie.” She turned to Stormcloud. “I’m not surprised to see you here, well I am surprised but not that I didn’t know you were here. I mean Twilight already told me you got in, it’s just I was surprised to see you right here right now.”
Before Stormcloud could respond to the sentence he’d half followed, Pinkie Pie had already disappeared again. Rapid Fire coughed to get Stormclouds’ attention.
“Just because you know Director Sparkle doesn’t mean you are getting a free pass. You will address me as Sir or Agent Rapid, never Agent Fire though, we’ve had a few problems in the past with that.” Rapid Fire explained.
“I was never expecting a free pass Sir.” Stormcloud responded.
“Good because you’ve been assigned for Specialist training.”
“Specialist?” Stormcloud asked confused.
“The tests you’ve been doing have shown that you are a pony who fits into a specialist trend, it means you have more than one special talent whereas normally most ponies get grouped into field agents, engineering, R and D and then all the other minor roles, but you. You were one of the few who didn’t fit the trend so you are deemed a specialist and trust me it has its perks.”
“What sort of perks?” Stormcloud asked intrigued.
“I’m afraid I don’t even know, its too high a clearance for me to know. However I would consider getting an early night, training for you starts at ‘07:00’.” Rapid Fire smiled and left Stormcloud.
And with that Stormcloud polished off the last of his food and left for his bed.
***
Stormcloud was awoken by a knock on his door at six o’clock the next morning. He slid the door open to be greeted by the muscular mass that was Captain Falcon. Stormcloud felt his jaw drop in disbelief.
“Ain’t no Director to save your flank this time, get yourself cleaned up, your room cleaned up and get some oats down your mouth hole. Training starts in one hour. You won’t need to wear any attire.” Captain Falcon left without waiting for a reply.
Stormcloud proceeded to brush his mane and do some warm-up stretches before making his bed. He’d slept soundly that night but seeing Pepper Pot had caused some unwanted memories, he knew he’d woken up in a cold sweat during the night but couldn't remember anything about it.
He left his room and had to try and remember the way to the mess hall. He hadn’t stayed awake too long last night but with all the events of the few days Stormcloud was thoroughly exhausted. Stormcloud saw a few others head towards the mess room including the pegasus mare he’d met yesterday, all the other ponies looked equally as tired.
The mess hall was a large room that had one wall in a large ‘U’ shape, this was to allow food to be served through the gap. Stormcloud collected his oats, orange juice and coffee, he then sat down at one of the numerous tables that lined the hall. He ate in silence and once he was finished, waited for Captain Falcon.
The earth pony with the boxing glove cutie mark turned up at precisely ‘07:00’.
“Alright listen up! Now agents with a higher clearance level than me have decided that you pathetic excuses have what it takes to be Specialists. Now I think they’re wrong and there are far better choices than you lot. Your job is to prove me wrong!” He barked.
Captain Falcon turned on the spot and led the group down one of the four corridors that led from the mess hall. The corridor led the group down a set of stairs and then led on for quite some distance, the walls on either side were bare white and they only passed the occasional door. Eventually the turned left into a giant room that was far larger than the mess room. The room was oval in shape and contained a running track that followed the circumference of the room. In the centre were sets of weights and some items Stormcloud recognised from his foal days when he was just learning magic.
“Line up on the starting line!” Captain Falcon ordered.
The track was ten lanes wide and there were eight ponies taking part. Each one chose a lane and found their own starting position. Stormcloud stretched out his limbs as Captain Falcon draped a whistle over his neck.
“Okay, listen up! You are going to run fifty laps, pegasi will be grounded for this exercise! If I catch any pegasi flying you’ll have to run ten extra laps!” With that he blew the whistle.
***
He must have been on lap forty-six or was it forty-seven? It mattered not Stormcloud was exhausted and his stomach felt as if it was tied in knots. Thankfully Stormcloud had done laps at high school so he knew to keep a slow pace for most of the laps then in the last few laps pick up the pace. He knew for a fact that pegasi were naturally athletic so he wasn’t surprised to see all of them leading the herd around the track. Stormcloud held onto his sixth position for the time being.
He took notice of the two ponies behind him, a unicorn and an earth pony, both seemed to be struggling to keep pace, he’d remembered that they’d held pole position for the first few laps. As ponies ran past Captain Falcon he shouted their laps left to them.
“Five Stormcloud!” He shouted as he ran past.
Stormcloud lowered his head and picked up the pace. He went up to fifth in no time and soon he took fourth. There were three pegasi in the lead now all of whom didn't seem to be breaking a sweat. He held his pace for a lap and half and then dropped back into fifth. He retained this pace for a quarter of a lap and then galloped into third. He smirked to himself as the pegasi stallion stared at the unicorn in disbelief when he overtook him. He could feel a stitch form in his side and slowed his pace, ensuring that he slowed his breathing down. The pain subsided and he was now in seventh position. He only had a lap left so Stormcloud charged with all his might.
“It can’t be her, it can’t be her.”
Stormcloud looked around at the buildings covered in dust, he could hear someone calling for help, but couldn't tell where. He could hear changelings behind him and ponies running in various directions. He focused for the cries and then ran towards them. That's when he saw the toppled tower near the shops. He saw two ponies, one being Pepper Pot the other being Luminescent Spark. Luminescent Spark had a stone brick all the way through him. Pepper Pot hadn't seemed to have noticed.
“He’s got a brick through him.” Stormcloud said.
The mare ignored him and continued to pull bricks off the elderly pony.
“He isn’t going to make it! You need to stop and get out of here!”
The mare turned.
*Slap!*
Stormcloud shook his head, he was in front now, the end in sight. He tried to shake the memories from his head, he could feel his left forelegs catch the ground and he could feel the air flow faster around his face. His face hit the ground and his body quickly followed turning Stormcloud upside down and dragging him several hooves.
In a matter of minutes he was patched up, he was lightly bruised and his hooves and back hurt. Thankfully they were done running and were taking a short break. Two other ponies entered the room; Rapid Fire and a unicorn mare. The mare had fur a similar colour to Stormclouds, she also had green eyes and a long black mane her cutie mark was two stars.
Each of the ponies assembled with the instructor of the same race as them, the earth ponies and unicorns walked into the centre of the room where the weights were and the pegasi left the room. Stormcloud and the other unicorns waited for some time as other agents in-training entered the room.
He thought this was the only logical conclusion.
When Stormcloud was at magic nursery all unicorns were given an exercise to help them with magic. The toy was made of wood and was a plank with three wooden shafts jutting out. One of these shafts had stone rings of ascending sizes on it. The aim was to move the entire tower from one shaft and rebuild it on another, but the catch was that you could only place a smaller ring on top of the lower rings. There was a trick to solving the puzzle but as Stormcloud stared at the massive structure he’d forgotten what it was.
Before him were three giant stone pillars, each must be at least fifteen meters tall, around one of these pillars were seven giant rings, each larger than the other as Stormcloud looked down from the top. The rings were made out of cast iron and weighed several kilos each, several kilos was quite heavy for magic. Stormcloud knew he lacked strength when it came to telekinesis he was far better at what was known as scatter*.
“My name is Etiam Vitae.” She said with a Prance accent. “I will be your instructor over the next twelve weeks. What we’ll be working on today is increasing the weight of what you can lift. All you have to do is transfer this tower from this shaft to the one at the other end.”
She looked at a checklist.
“I guess we’ll begin then.” She said while smiling.
Stormcloud groaned.
***
The morning had been spent watching other ponies try and move the ring from one shaft to the other, the most he’d seen one pony move was three. Stormcloud had only been able to move the one and he’d struggled with that. Luckily they had an hour for lunch and he began feeling a bit more livelier after he’d consumed some food.
The afternoon was rather dull, they’d been grouped into their specialisms again rather than by race and were now in a small classroom. Rapid Fire was teaching the lesson on how to knock out different ponies. He explained how unicorns could easily pull up a stun spell and fire whereas pegasi could place their wings around their foe, this allowed the pony to fall asleep without losing any air, as a small amount of air could pass through the feathers to their foe. Earth ponies had to rely on hitting pressure spots on another body or by simple strangulation, the tip was to let go just after they went completely limp but to wait a short period in case they were feinting it.
The class finished at teatime and after that there were no more training exercises for the day. Stormcloud ate his hayburger quietly and then went to find the communal shower. The shower room was unisex and there a few others in the room. Some mares held their mane in a towel bun and were leaving when Stormcloud entered. He turned on a shower and felt ice cold water hit his back like somepony had punched him with a knife. He toughed out the cold water when he realized there was no hot water left.
After his ice shower Stormcloud walked up to his personal quarters. He unpacked his bag which he’d forgotten to do this last night and didn't want to do this morning. He placed the cards on his bedside table along with the one book. He lifted out his suit and hung it in the wardrobe, he placed the four ties beside it. He placed his sweets in the top drawer and folded up the bag and put it in bottom drawer he stopped midway as he felt something square and hard still in the bag. He pulled out the framed photo he’d been clutching when he’d been knocked out. He placed the frame face down on the chest of drawers, ensuring he didn’t look at the photo within, he wanted to sleep that night. He flopped onto the bed and fell asleep almost instantly.
written by ward282
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Think its a feather Stormcloud
4608554 I have no idea what to make of this comment.
4612777 me neither
4618372 star wars I get, but not the Lord of the Flies comment
4608554 please explain por favor..
i kinda wish they told us who disliked stories. not that i want to flame on them, no! because the way its set up, we wont know what they didn't like so we never resolve.